I’ve just finished listening to the latest episode of the Sprue Cutters Union podcast, which was excellent as always. It was the anniversary episode featuring a great discussion between the three hosts, Paul Budzik and David Parker. I highly recommend you give it a listen.

Towards the end of their chat the discussion skates over the fact we do this hobby for fun; it’s not like exercise. And since I was listening whilst doing some exercise, that got me thinking: do I make models for fun? Because I’m not sure I do.

If my wife were to come into my modelling room at any given moment and ask me, “Are you having fun?” I’m pretty sure the answer would be, “No”. It’s not that I’m having the opposite of fun, whatever that is, but it’s just not an adjective I’d use to describe how I feel about modelling, in the same way I wouldn’t describe it as ‘exciting’ or ‘painful’.

But who cares, right? This is surely just semantics. I know that when they touched on this on the podcast they were not making a technical philosophical argument, but meant that this is a hobby, it’s not work (for most of us), it’s optional, a choice; you really can take it or leave it. But I think it might matter, at least to me, and the words we use are important because words are powerful and have consequences.

I suppose I react a little against the ‘it’s meant to be fun’ trope because of the expectations that sets. What do I find fun? Drinking a bit too much with mates is fun. Driving at 150mph on the M25 is fun. Going to Telford for SMW is fun. Having sex is fun. Watching decent comedy is fun. Talking with Scott Gentry and John Bonnani on the Plastic Posse Podcast was fun. Loads of things are fun. And when I sit down at my model bench to sand out a seam, mask a canopy or apply decals should I expect the thirty minutes I spend doing that to be fun? For me, no. It’s not. The worry I therefore have is that if I expect modelling to be ‘fun’ and I sit down and it doesn’t match the experience I get from these other activities, does that mean I’m not going to do it? Is the mythical mojo going to be depleted? Am I asking to much of scale modelling?

My personal perspective (and bear in mind I have written those three words!) is that present day society does hype up our expectations of what we should feel when we engage in fairly ordinary activities. Take work. It seems blindingly obvious to us that you should aim for work that is enjoyable, even though you do not have to go back many generations before that concept would have been nonsensical for vast swathes of humanity. I know the pressure my daughters are facing is the need to find a career they enjoy.

People often ask me that: do you enjoy your job? I never know how to answer. If I say ‘yes’ it implies I enjoy picking up dead bodies, depriving people of their liberty, telling them off, taking their vehicles off them, making them poorer. No one should enjoy these things. I recently stopped a private hire vehicle taking a couple to an airport. It turned out the driver had no licence. I had no choice but to seize his vehicle; they missed their flight. Did I enjoy that? Of course not. But if I say ‘no’ people don’t understand why I do it. If I don’t enjoy it, why not do something else? It would be easy to change.

Like ‘fun’ and ‘modelling’, ‘enjoy’ and ‘policing’ are not a happy pairing for me. But I do both, and both for positive reasons. Maybe I need to find other adjectives.

The SCU guys made a joke about exercise, and the implication it’s not fun. And I completely agree. I loathe exercise with every fibre of my being, yet for professional reasons and to avoid dying from a heart attack before I’m 70 (like my dad), I do it. Regularly. It hurts, it costs me money, and I could spend the time doing something I enjoy or find fun, but I exercise anyway because that’s my expectation: this is good for me and I don’t expect to be having fun at the gym.

To not quite the same extent that’s how I approach my daily modelling sessions. I’m not expecting to have fun, and I think that’s a central reason why I don’t suffer from the mojo-problem. I have no expectations of what emotions the ensuing thirty to sixty minutes will engender. Satisfaction, tedium, pleasure, frustration, enjoyment, disappointment – they will all feature in unpredictable and fleeting moments. It will be what it will be. In the long run, the pleasure will outweigh the frustration and a new model will grace the shelves in the living room. And for me that’s where the real satisfaction and pleasure will be obtained. I know lots of modellers are all about the journey and the model at the end is somewhat disposable, but not me. Looking at completed models is what I enjoy the most, and that’s what keeps me making more (and makes it critically important I make quite a few). I would rather know a little about a lot than a lot about a little (I’ve tried both, and it’s the main reason I hated doing my PhD); similarly, I’d rather make a lot of models to a competent standard than a very few to an exceptional standard. Until I’m retired (if I’m ever blessed to be), I think that choice will always be one I have to grapple with because of the tension between quality and quantity.

One of my great themes is that you are you and I am me. Much conflict on modelling social media platforms could be eliminated if people just realised this. So what I am certainly not saying is that modelling can’t be fun. Of course it can be, and if it is for you, more power to you! But if it’s not fun, it might be worth asking the question: Am I asking to much from this hobby? Is ‘fun’ a reasonable expectation of what it can offer me?

But listening to modelling podcasts: now, that is fun. You can find a list of them here: http://modelpodcasts.com/

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